The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The present invention relates generally to transducers such as force or pressure transducers. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved acceleration compensation for transducers.
Acceleration compensation is a technique that is often used in transducers such as force or pressure transducers. When such transducers are accelerated, this motion can cause error (inertial error) in the measurement. The transducer is comprised of a sensing element and additional mass attached to the sensing element. This additional mass can be fixturing mass or mass due to the structure of the transducer. Additional mass (not part of the unit under test) which is attached to what is known as the active side of the transducer will induce force onto the sensing element when the mass is accelerated. However, this inertial force is considered erroneous, because the force is not as a result of the force applied to the transducer from the unit under test but is instead a result of the force required to accelerate the mass of the fixturing and/or parts of the transducer itself.
Traditionally, force or pressure dynamic measurements are corrected for inertially induced errors with an accelerometer coupled to or placed in close proximity to the transducer such that the accelerometer senses acceleration in the direction(s) of motion in which the transducer error exists. Since the force error is proportional to the acceleration, a scalar value multiplied by the measured acceleration produces a compensation signal for the inertial error. The scalar value represents the mass of the fixturing or parts of the transducer on the active side of the sensing element.
Although the above-described compensation technique provides a compensation signal that can significantly improve transducer accuracy, in some situations more accuracy is desired.